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Taylor Bridge Fire

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:36 pm
by stevec
The area around Liberty has been on the national news the last few nights due to the Taylor Bridge Fire that started on Monday, and has burned over 22,000 acres (about 35 sq. miles) in the first 48 hours, inlcuding 60 homes. For those who attended the 2006 LJ meet in Liberty, the fire is currently burning less than three miles from the town (probably about two miles from where we camped), and residents were issued a stage 1 evacuation order early this morning. (Stage 1 = voluntary evacuation, warning that evacuation may be required soon. Stage 2 = forced evacuation is likely, better get ready to go. Stage 3 = get the hell out of there, the fire is right behind you!)

Most of the area burned by the fire, nearly 20,000 acres, burned in the first 24 hours, when winds were 30-40mph, but officials do not expect to have the fire contained for another five to seven days, will not have it under control for at least a few days after that, and the fire won't be "out" until it snows.

Re: Taylor Bridge Fire

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:36 am
by Smuz
Oh, hell, that's too bad. That's a pretty area.

Re: Taylor Bridge Fire

Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 11:42 am
by stevec
Well, apparently the Taylor Bridge fire in August was just a warmup. The Table Mountain Complex fires started a week and a half ago (lightning), and exploded this week. There were four main fires in the Table Mountain complex, but they are now one big fire. Here's an interactive map of the fires as of Wednesday night:

http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us/response/2 ... n-Fire.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Today the Table Mountain Fires will likely merge with the Wenatchee complex fires a few miles to the north - firefighters are letting them do that, since it will be easier to contain one big fire (less perimeter area to cover.) As of this morning, about half the 4WD trails in the Liberty system have been consumed by the fire. For reference, at the 2006 meet we camped where Pine Gulch Road (and Harkness Road) meet Liberty Road. The town of Liberty is where Liberty Road meets Williams Creek and Boulder Creek Roads (where the red and yellow evacuation areas meet.) Yellow is Stage 2 evacuation, Red is Stage 3.

For those who have been there, the Crystal Mountain Lookout (at the top of Rear End Hill, the hill where a couple of rigs were overheating at the 2006 meet) is right about where #18 is on the map, above FS road 3506-114. Just west of this, where the fire just about touches two roads coming together in grid #13, is where the lower 4W319 and 4W321 trails meet. Hole in the Rock and that trail are farther north, near the end of Williams Creek. The fire was about 1/2 mile from the northern half of that trail as of Thursday morning.

The green evacuation area at the southern part of the map effectively ends where the Taylor Bridge Fire was stopped last month. Since there are very few structures down there (just hunting cabins), they will likely use the Taylor Bridge fire boundary to contain this fire.